Russia’s May 9 Victory Day parade marks the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II and has become the country’s most important public holiday.
In a televised speech at Moscow’s Red Square before thousands of soldiers, President Vladimir Putin praised his army fighting in Ukraine and accused Western elites of fomenting conflicts around the world.
Note: This transcript presents what Putin said and as he said - it may contain a selective view of facts to argue Russia’s case for its invasion of Ukraine. Russia refers to the Russia-Ukraine War as a special military operation.
Here is the full text transcript of the speech:
Dear citizens of Russia! Dear veterans!
Comrade soldiers and sailors, sergeants and foremen, midshipmen and warrant officers! Comrade officers, generals and admirals! Soldiers, commanders, front-line soldiers are the heroes of a special military operation!
Congratulations on Victory Day - our most important, truly national, sacred holiday!
We honor our fathers and grandfathers, great-grandfathers. They defended their native land and crushed Nazism, liberated the peoples of Europe, and reached the heights of military and labor valor.
Today we see how they are trying to distort the truth about World War II. It interferes with those who are accustomed to base their essentially colonial policy on hypocrisy and lies. They demolish memorials to true fighters against Nazism, put traitors and accomplices of the Nazis on pedestals, cross out the memory of the heroism and nobility of the liberating soldiers, of the great sacrifice they made in the name of life.
Revanchism, mockery of history, the desire to justify the current followers of the Nazis are part of the general policy of Western elites to incite more and more regional conflicts, interethnic and interreligious hostility, and to restrain sovereign, independent centers of world development.
We reject the claims of any state or alliance to exclusivity; we know what the exorbitance of such ambitions leads to. Russia will do everything to prevent a global conflict, but at the same time we will not allow anyone to threaten us. Our strategic forces are always in combat readiness.
In the West, they would like to forget the lessons of the Second World War, but we remember that the fate of humanity was decided in grandiose battles near Moscow and Leningrad, Rzhev, Stalingrad, Kursk and Kharkov, near Minsk, Smolensk and Kiev, in heavy bloody battles from Murmansk to the Caucasus and Crimea.
The first three long, difficult years of the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet Union and all the republics of the former Soviet Union fought the Nazis almost one on one, while almost all of Europe worked for the military power of the Wehrmacht.
At the same time, I would like to emphasize: Russia has never belittled the importance of the second front and the help of the allies. We honor the courage of all the soldiers of the anti-Hitler coalition, members of the Resistance, underground fighters, partisans, the courage of the people of China, who fought for their independence against the aggression of militaristic Japan. And we will always remember, never, never forget our common struggle and inspiring traditions of alliance.
Dear friends!
Russia is now going through a difficult, transitional period. The fate of the Motherland, its future depends on each of us.
Today, on Victory Day, we realize this even more acutely and clearly and invariably look up to the generation of winners - brave, noble, wise, their ability to cherish friendship and steadfastly endure adversity, to always be confident in themselves and in their country, sincerely and selflessly love the Motherland.
We celebrate Victory Day in the context of a special military operation. All its participants - those who are on the front line, on the line of combat contact - are our heroes. We bow to your perseverance and self-sacrifice, dedication. All of Russia is with you!
Our veterans believe in you and worry about you. Their spiritual involvement in your destinies and exploits inextricably binds the generation of heroes of the Fatherland.
Today we bow our heads to the blessed memory of all whose lives were taken by the Great Patriotic War. In memory of sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, grandfathers, great-grandfathers, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, relatives, friends.
We bow our heads to the veterans of the Great Patriotic War who have left us. Before the memory of civilians who died from barbaric shelling and terrorist attacks by neo-Nazis. Before our comrades in arms who fell in the fight against neo-Nazism, in a righteous battle for Russia.
A minute of silence is announced.
( Minute of silence. )
Our dear veterans, comrades, friends!
The ninth of May is always a very emotional, poignant day. Every family honors its heroes, looks at photographs, dear, beloved faces, remembers relatives, their stories about how they fought, how they worked.
Victory Day unites all generations. We are moving forward, relying on our centuries-old traditions, and we are confident that together we will ensure a free, safe future for Russia, our united people.
